Monday, October 22, 2012

Just when you thought you had seen the sleekest house (like the one
featured in Eugene's post about the Santa Barbara pavilion), here comes
an amazing one perched on top of Hollywood Hills. It's truly a design to kill for...

If Marty McFly traveled back from the future and brought back tons of dough, I'm pretty sure he would purchase this triplex penthouse apartment in New York. Overlooking the the Brooklyn Bridge and New York Harbor, the "Clocktower" apartment is on the market for a cool $25 million, more than double the highest price known to have been paid for a home in Brooklyn.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Travel guides mostly do not mention these under ground wonders,
creepy tunnels and massive underground systems. Some of these tunnels
are only recently opened to public. Some are still impossible to enter
and very hard to explore. But this is where the “spirit of adventure”
comes in, as multitudes of amateur photographers descend into the
unknown to bring back evidence of things unseen.

1. Abandoned Salte Mine in Romania

Turda Salt mine is an old closed salt mine in Cluj Country Romania.
The closed mine has long tunnels, and a deep natural cave. The
excavations dug a huge artificial cave, in which you could fit three
10-story blocks. Marius says: “you can play football inside of them; and
you enter there by bus”.

These days you can buy jewelry in all shapes and colors, but what about wearing Barbie’s body parts as earrings, necklace, etc.? Designer Margaux Lange has made a collection ofaccessories
that contains pieces of the plastic princess, everything from breasts
to hands. The designer says

Monday, October 15, 2012

The well was like that one weak spot on the Death Star; it was an
ultimate source of vulnerability. Sure there were dozens of ways to
pour sand and molten substances on oncoming aggressors, and the
structural soundness of the castle ensured impenetrability, but if the
well wasn’t properly-secured, or if it ran dry, the rest was very
useless. Invaders could very well poison the water supply, if left
unattended, and virtually guarantee defeat.

The castle was a very boring place. Essentially, all anyone did was
stick around making sure nobody touched their stuff. Outdoors,
recreational activities included hunting and a whole bunch of combat
training. Manly things indeed. Indoors however, it was much more
bleak. Chess was one of the few games that did exist in the day, but
the number one way to cure boredom was to eat (which people still do to
this day). There’d be great feasts full of food and drink (lots of
booze), jesters and minstrels. Nowadays, we have T.V. dinners and
six-packs. And you don’t need to be of high social standing to enjoy
those (and you usually aren’t).

When you think of a castle, you usually think of lavish amenities and
grand-scale poshness, but who cares how big the barn is, when its still
slathered in mud and smells like horse manure. Similarly, castles were
often poorly lit (the sun came through tiny slits for windows); they
were damp; and they had poor air circulation (think of all they body
heat circling around the place). After all castles were build primarily
for defense; creature comforts were on the back-burner. Eventually
however, castles came to be outfitted with pretty rugs and artful
stained-glass windows as somebody had the bright idea to make these
things livable, and to have the interior be a reflection of wealth as
well as the exterior.

This is according to the Castellarium Anglicanum which is supposed to be
the ultimate authority on castles in England and Wales. Note the
intentional use of the term “site,” as many of these castles are ruined
to the point of invisibility, while over 800 have some remnants, and
more than 300 are still standing and structurally intact to a large
degree. Also note, there is some debate as to what constitutes a
“castle,” as some structures claim to be castles even as they are
definitively not so.

Castles were always built with a spiraling staircase that turned
clockwise. This was a purposeful design element that served an
incredibly practical purpose; the idea was incoming siegers would ascend
the stairs, but be given a huge disadvantage in the way of their sword
arm, as most people are right-handed. On the other hand, castle
occupants descending the stairs would be given the advantage of a
staircase designed with their sword-arms in mind. Damned they were
though, if they were attacked by an entirely left-handed infantry.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Just looking at all the apparatus and features of a castle gives you a
pretty good idea of its purpose: moats, turrets, ramparts, murder holes,
gun and arrow loops, etc. Every single one of these design elements
was meant to keep enemies out and down. A few that stand out: murder
holes were holes in the ceiling through which scalding liquids would be
poured on the enemy. Gun and arrow loops were slits out of which arrows
could be fired from with little detection. It seemed foolish in any
context to even approach a castle without a written invitation

At about 900 years old, Windsor is still occupied by Queen Elizabeth II
(one of the many facilities she calls home). Originally, it was a
wooden motte-and-bailey-type castle built by William I as the first in a
series of nine castles. Later it was renovated with stones and was
given a few additions by way of some outer walls and a round tower by a
generous Henry II. Sounds similar to the way every elected U.S.
President has added a new feature to the White House (most recently with
President Obama’s basketball court). Whatever you can do to call it
home…

When the Normans (who came from Normandy, France) came to England almost
a thousand years ago, they built wooden motte-and-bailey-styled
castles, which were essentially castles built on a mount, whereby
low-level residents and enemies at naturally lower altitudes had to hike
up sharp inclines to reach the castle itself. While this was a clever
way of putting the earth to good use, the walls which enveloped the
castle, as well as the castle itself, were made of wood, which could
easily be burnt down.

This is perhaps one of the most uncomfortable features of the castle, as
if the castle weren’t uncomfortable enough; there were no toilets, but
rather little constructions called “garderobes,” a hole through which
users would aim their waste products, which would ultimate go through
shoots which wound up in the surrounding moats. Adding to the
wretchedness, these “bathrooms” were often cold and breezy, hardly
conducive to progress. Another gross detail: the “garderobe” was called
such as residents would keep their clothing inside, as the odor would
repel insects (and any human with a sense of smell, most likely).

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Here is a collection of some incredible photos of Lexus LFA ful size sculpture made by Japanese architect
Sou Fujimoto. This sculpture is constructed from transparent acrylic
boards that have been sanded and polished. The most impressive thing
about sculpture is that its looks so cool as

Spain is a fabulous country and fantastic tourist destination. You
will no doubt find the ideal destination to meet your needs when you go
to Spain. Traveling through Spain you see numerous monuments. As you continue traveling you’ll find museums, as well as stunning architecture. Here is collection of some incredible sculpture art around the Spain.Sculpture In Sitges City

Sunday, September 30, 2012

If you love to travel through the world, we sure after having a looking at stunning photographsstaircases like Spiral Staircase at Garvan Institute in Sydney, Australia, Spiral Staircase at the Vatican Museum in Italy and Staircase
at Lello Bookshop in Portugal you would absolutely like to have your
steps on these amazing stairs during your visit of these countries.
Lets take a look at ten world’s most amazing Staircases

Thursday, September 27, 2012

construction has begun on residence antilia despite opposition from
those who see it as an ‘excessive’ design in a city where more than 65%
of the population live in slums. politics aside and after you recover
from the initial shock of seeing a skyscraper that resembles an ikea cd
rack, the building actually looks like it may succeed as a stunning,
unique, green piece of architecture.

Burj Dubai is the tallest man-made structure in the world. The Burj
Dubai had its name officially changed to Burj Khalifa during its grand
opening in honor of the president of the U.A.E. H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin
Zayed al Nahyan. The condensation water collected from the A/C system
equals to 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools
per year and in turn, used for landscaping. Over 330,000 cubic meters
of concrete and 31,400 metric tonnes of steel rebar was used at the
completion of the tower. The tower is situated on a man-made lake which
is designed to wrap around the tower and to provide dramatic views of
it.

This gigantic, 300m tall glass flame of a building will house the
Gazprom Headquarters in St. Petersburg , dwarfing all structures in its
vicinity, it will apparently change color up to 10 times per day
depending on the position of the sun. The building has already been nicknamed ‘corn on the cob’ by unhappy locals.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Asymptote’s design for the PGCC complex is centered on the idea of
creating a new and powerful image for the city of Penang and the new
initatives associated with the development of the Northern Corridor of
Malaysia. The design achieves its elegance and stature through the
simultaneous embrace of natural landscapes and contemporary urbanism.
The PGCC will become a vital new precinct that complements and enhances
the unique characteristics that typify Penang as a remarkable island
metropolis. The design of the iconic towers in particular draws
inspiration from not only the lushness and drama of the surrounding
mountains and seascapes, but also from the rich and diverse cultural
heritage that makes up the Malaysian nation and Penang in particular.

Friday, September 21, 2012

The Russia Tower is an unfinished supertall skyscraper, the
construction of which is cancelled, in the Moscow International Business
Centre of Moscow, Russia. Construction began in September, 2007, and
was planned to be completed in 2012. The total area of the structure
would cover 520,000 m2 (5,600,000 sq ft), of which 38% (approximately
200,000 m2 (2,200,000 sq ft)) would be located underground. The tower
would contain 118 floors, 101 elevators, and underground parking to
accommodate 3,680 cars. Commercial retail shops would be located at the
base of the building. The maximum capacity of the building was
projected to be around 30,000.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Atkins has won an international competition to design a five-star resort
hotel set within a beautiful water-filled quarry in the Songjiang
district close to Shanghai in China. Its stunning concept designs
inspired by the natural water and landscape features of the quarry
captured the imagination of judges to quash competition from two other
international firms.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Taking on a nautical theme, the developers say the 10 smaller towers
represent sailing boats whilst the larger building is ‘The Lighthouse’.
It’s the lighthouse that steals the show for us, possibly the most
incredible looking structure we’ve seen for a long time. If it ends up
looking anything close to these pictures we’ll be impressed.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The CCTV Headquarters is a skyscraper in the Beijing Central Business
District. The building is the headquarters of China Central Television.
Groundbreaking took place on September 22, 2004 and the building’s
facade was completed in Jun 2008. Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren of OMA
were the architects in charge for the building, while Arup provided the
complex engineering design. It stands at 234 meters (768 ft) tall and
has 54 floors.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Chicago spire will become America’s tallest building by the end of
2010. It has been designed by the well-known Spanish architect Santiago
Calatrava. The 150-floor building is being developed by Garrett Kelleher of Shelbourne Development Group Inc and is expected to be completed in 2010. Access to the tower will be from Lower Lake Shore Drive to reduce the impact on traffic in the neighborhood – the tower is expected to add one car a minute to the local traffic pattern. Within three months of the building announcement, 800 people had contacted the developer wanting to buy apartments in the building.

Aqua is an 82-story mixed-use residential skyscraper under construction in the Lakeshore East development in downtown Chicago. The name “Aqua” is in keeping with the nautical theme most of the buildings in the Lakeshore East development
have: The Tides, The Shoreham, The Regatta, etc. It is currently
topped-out at 819 ft (250 m), and will include six levels of parking
below ground. The building’s eight-story, 140,000 sq ft (13,000 m2)
base will be topped by a 82,550 sq ft (7,669 m2) terrace with gardens,
gazebos, pools, hot tubs, a walking/running track and fire pit. Each
floor will cover approximately 16,000 sq ft (1,500 m2).Of course construction
technologies are advancing extremely fast. Lets see top ten strange
and unique structures of the world which have either been approved or
are in the final stages of approval. some have already been partially
constructed.

Work on this home began in 1884 and lasted through 1922, when owner and
designer Sarah Winchester, heiress of the Winchester rifle company,
died. At one point, the property sprawled over 161 acres, but has since
been reduced to just 4 acres. Winchester was never a huge fan of
blueprints. Instead, she preferred an on-the-fly design strategy,
sketching rooms and architectural oddities whenever inspiration struck.
Notable features include 40 bedrooms, three elevators, 47 fireplaces,
17 chimneys and 467 doorways. The house originally had seven levels,
but an earthquake in 1906 collapsed three of them. Tourists now flock
to the house to see its many quirks, including a staircase that leads
straight to the ceiling.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

This house, located within a national park on the southwestern coast of
Wales, is sunk into the ground so the landscape remains nearly
uninterrupted by its presence. It was completed in 1994 by design firm
Future Systems. With turf-covered roofing and siding, the 222 House
fits seamlessly into the surrounding field. “This is exemplary
sustainable design, where you are integrating the home into the site
and minimizing the visual impact,” architect Peter Koliopoulos says.
The bathroom and kitchen are prefabricated pods that were lifted into
the site during construction. An added benefit of the design concept is
the geothermal insulation, which shields the home from wind and cuts
energy consumption.

This hanging room is the brainchild of Tom and Rosy Chudleigh, a
Canadian couple who build these spherical living spaces for customers
around the world. The Chudleighs have two spheres hanging on their
property: the Eve model, which has a diameter of 9 feet, and the Eryn
model, which has a diameter of 10.5 feet. The spheres can be ordered
fully loaded, equipped with plumbing, electricity and insulation. An
average sphere weighs around 1,100 pounds, and it takes a crew of three
about a day to install. The Chudleighs say that the structures gently
rock in the wind, a nice thought — depending on just how windy it is.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Anderson Architecture completed this home in 2006 atop a hill
overlooking a cherry orchard and Lake Michigan. The striking structure
took less than eight weeks to build thanks to the use of prefabricated
materials. The steel frame of this house is wrapped in corrugated,
translucent acrylic slats, allowing it to take on and reflect the
changing colors of the landscape, like a chameleon blending into its
habitat. Because it sits on a steep hill, the entrance of the home
leads to the third floor, letting residents descend to the bedrooms or
walk up to the living area.

Monday, September 3, 2012

This relic of architectural days past dates back to 1746, when Maharana
Jagat Singh II commissioned it. Nowadays, it is a high-end hotel,
outfitted with modern amenities and luxury suites. The ornate palace
sits on a 4-acre slab of land in the middle of Lake Pichola. Its
exterior is made from white marble, which architect Peter Koliopoulos
says isn’t exactly compatible with the natural surroundings. “You
always want to develop design concepts that leverage, reinforce and
highlight the natural features of the area. The scale and form of this
building, though, are pretty obtuse,” he says. “Incorporating the
marble just extends the oddity of the design approach.”

Marathon Coach is to motor homes what Bentley is to automobiles: pure
luxury. A brand-new, fully loaded model can go for as much as $2.2
million, though used models can be picked up for less than $200,000. A
custom order takes about 180 days to build. For starters, each Marathon
Coach has a minimum of five high-definition TVs, ranging from 7 to 50
inches in size. A 515-horsepower engine powers this house on wheels,
and the stainless-steel chassis is covered under a 1.5 million-mile
warranty. Other wild options include pullout barbecues, electric
fireplaces, a second bathroom and a wine chiller. The major drawback is
that the vehicle gets only about seven miles to eight mpg.

Amory Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute and a Popular
Mechanics Breakthrough Award winner, is no stranger to eco-friendly
initiatives, and this combined home and work space is a testament to
his ingenuity. The residential section of the building costs a measly
$5 per month to power, thanks to the structure’s passive solar design,
16-inch-thick walls and krypton-filled windows. Lovins doesn’t rely on a
boiler or furnace to heat the space; instead, two wood-burning stoves
take care of the job. But most impressive, perhaps, is the greenhouse,
which has churned out nearly 30 crops of bananas, as well as guavas,
pineapples and other tropical fruit rarely associated with the Rocky
Mountains.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Construction of this house dates back to 1592, but it didn’t acquire
its trademark slant until 1718, when the structure was rebuilt using
unseasoned green oak. Sure it’s slanted, but what really makes the
house stand out is that its basement had a secret passage to Windsor
Castle, one of the official residences of the U.K.’s royal family. The
passage was allegedly used for trysts between King Charles and a
mistress, as well as for running supplies to the castle’s kitchen. The
passageway has since been sealed off. Through the centuries, the
crooked house has been home to various businesses, including a brewery
and jewelry shop. It is now a restaurant.

This beach house, which was designed by the firm McBride Charles Ryan,
was named the world’s best home at the 2009 World Architecture Festival
awards. A Klein Bottle is a complex mathematical concept that involves
folding a cylinder into itself in order to create an unusual,
spiraling form. This notion was the driving force behind the Klein
Bottle House, which appears to bring the interior out to the exterior and vice versa. A steel frame
was layered with cement and sheet metal, while the architects created a
courtyard at the center of the house to allow wind to pass through
easily.

Designer Antti Lovag long rebelled against traditional structures, and
the Bubble Castle is a perfect example of his radical approach to
rethinking the built environment. The bulbous compound sits on the
southwestern coast of France. There are no sharp angles or straight lines
in this unusual design. Lovag unified the home with its natural
surrounding by bringing outdoor elements inside, including palm trees
and a waterfall. “This home is incorporating these outdoor rock
croppings in a way that links
them to the overall bubble concept,” architect Peter Koliopoulos says.
The house has already been deemed a historic monument by France’s
Ministry of Culture, despite the fact that it’s not even 50 years old.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

This was the home and studio of Terry Brown, an architect who died in
2008. Brown, who was a professor at the University of Cincinnati’s
College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, built the home
between 1992 and 2006, bringing in students, on occasion, to contribute
to the project. Undulating woodwork,
bizarre shapes and an array of materials come together to form a
cohesive, albeit zany, structure. “This isn’t something you draw up and
say, ‘Go build it,’” architect
Peter Koliopoulos says. “When you’re doing something this custom,
you’re fabricating and designing simultaneously in the field.” The
fantastical design doesn’t stop at the front door. The interior is
adorned with angular cabinets and multicolored rock walls. “This is
highly personal and artistic … it’s just a different way of living and
thinking,” he says.

This traditional farmhouse was created by London-based dRRM Architects
with one major mechanical surprise. The 20-ton outer shell of this home
can be retracted in six minutes, revealing a second, mostly glass,
inner shell. Power comes from four 12-volt batteries that run a motor
that pulls small wheels, built into the timber shell, along an old set
of railroad tracks. This feature gives the owners control over how the
house interacts with the surrounding environment, allowing them to make adjustments as seasonal temperatures and light cycles change.

Ed Pedin purchased this defunct missile silo in 1983, but it took about
a decade of renovations to make it a livable home. Pumping out more
than 8 feet of rainwater that accumulated while the site was inactive
was one of many makeover challenges. Not many homeowners can say their
house once stored a four-megaton nuclear warhead. What was once the
launch control station, Pedin says, is now a cozy living space.
Transforming a nuclear launch pad into a residential castle has lots of
benefits, such as an 11,000-square-foot garage and a 1,700-foot-long
airstrip, which came in particularly useful when Pedin was
experimenting with do-it-yourself ultralight aircraft. Since the
completion of Subterra Castle, Pedin has become a mogul of sorts,
creating 20th Century Castles LLC, a real-estate firm specializing in
converting missile silos.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Artist and architect Robert Bruno has been at work on his steel home
since 1974. Bruno has said that he wants the shape of the structure to
be somewhere between animal and machine. Most homes have an initial
skeleton that is built upon throughout the construction process, but
Bruno has approached this home like a sculpture, building it on the fly
and making constant modifications. Architect Peter Koliopoulos points
out that the four legs and cantilevered design minimize the structure’s
impact by not disrupting the earth as much as a typical home design
would have. Estimated weight of the structure is 110 tons.

Gigaplex
Architects created this unusual and award-winning weekend home in
2006. This house was created by joining two corrugated grain silos, the
largest of which has a diameter of 27 feet. “This is an approach that
is akin to sustainability,” architect Peter Koliopoulos says. “This
silo home is a lot of fun and is a neat way to look at an existing
product in a creative way.” With a modest size of 1,800 square feet,
the designers saved space by placing the beds in cubbyholes that are
cut into walls, each equipped with its own mini entertainment systems.

This seashell-shaped home was completed in 2006. The stone steps
running along the shrubs lead to the front door, which blends into the
mosaic façade. Architect Javier Sensonian practices what he calls
“bio-architecture,” a style that has led him to design buildings shaped like snakes, whales and several other creatures. The Nautilus was created to imitate the cephalopod’s shell,
and its cavernous interior is filled with vegetation and small trees.
“It’s not common that you would see a home of this design ascetic,”
architect Peter Koliopoulos says. “However, it’s very enlightening and
something that we can all learn from.”

Thursday, August 9, 2012

This octagonal house can rotate a full 360 degrees with the touch of a
few buttons. A rotating drive consisting of 32 outrigger wheels and
powered by two 500-watt electric motors is used to spin the house on
demand, a process that can take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. Geothermal heating
keeps the house at a steady 71.6 degrees, and the electrical wiring
and plumbing are centralized so that they don’t interfere with the
house’s ability to move. The entire cost of the project was on par with
the cost of a nonrotating house of comparable size.

The roof of this architectural masterpiece looks like a giant flower
with six petals, each of which covers a different section of the home. A
curved swimming pool works its way through the house before
culminating as a small pond stocked with fish and vegetation in the
backyard. Architect firm Mareines + Patalano designed the interior of
this house to be free of hallways, providing ample space for the beach
winds to blow through. “The idea of hallways stems from production
homebuilding, which has so dominated our

A
collection of beautiful examples of architectural photography that
will absolutely make you amazed. Just scroll down to see some incredible
scenic views of the most beautiful structures around the world.

Friday, July 27, 2012

After 11 years of design and
construction, curators at Rome’s new 130 million euro (about $175
million) contemporary art museum may now be wondering what art they’ll
install—and how they’ll hang it—in Zaha Hadid’s long, tubular gallery
spaces, which overlap each other as they zoom around an old army
barracks site like a frenzied highway project gone awry. Early viewers
can’t seem to get enough of Hadid’s gravity-defying, frozen-motion
theatricality, even as pundits declare the end of the era of
architectural spectacle.

Ground was broken on the new headquarters for Goldman Sachs back in
November 2005, well before the bank became a focal point for those
indignant at Wall Street excesses in the post credit-crisis era. Heavily
subsidized by tax breaks, the $2.5 billion building, in downtown
Manhattan, rises 43 stories and was designed by Harry Cobb of Pei Cobb
Freed & Partners to house six trading floors and 2.1 million
square feet of office space. As its 9,000 inhabitants finish moving
in, speculation is rife about just how posh Goldman’s trappings are,
but the company is not drawing attention to swank these days.